Whereabouts
by wolfgirlnowandforever
Summary: Gameverse. Leaf does things at her own pace. Green is impatient. Sometimes, he just has to wait for her. Mild Conflictingshipping.


**Author's Note:** The romance here is pretty mild, so I think K is the appropriate rating, right? This was inspired by the poem Whereabouts by Marcus Jackson and can be found here: writersalmanac . publicradio index . php?date=2012/01/10 Honestly, I just wanted to write something fluffy for Leaf and Green. I hope I did a good job~

:::

It had been a long day at the gym.

Green tossed his apartment keys in the bowl Leaf had made him buy. He got it after they had to call the locksmith for the twelfth time, holding three tubs of melting vanilla ice cream in the hallway. He smiled as he let himself drop on the couch. By the time the locksmith arrived, they had eaten two containers and one of the tubs had melted completely.

He couldn't stand to look at vanilla ice cream for months after that. It didn't help that Leaf had left for Unova two days later, and came back a month later with a Vanillite.

Green sat up and stretched his arms, working a bit of the soreness out of his muscles. After working out most of the kinks he paused, listening for any sounds around the apartment that would alert him to Leaf's presence. Aside from his breathing, the apartment was completely silent.

Weird, since Leaf usually got home long before he did. He often found her draped over the couch or slouched over the kitchen table, asking him when dinner would be ready. The few times he did get home before her, she arrived just after he did, a small pout on her face. She told him, after she had come back from a trip to Hoenn, that she liked to make a game out of it, racing and beating him home.

But she's late today.

_She's probably battling some cocky kid_, he thinks. Leaf is the kind of trainer others flock to, eager to show off against someone so skilled. He imagines her taking her time, not willing to completely crush an overenthusiastic trainer, but still wanting to teach them a lesson. Eventually, Leaf would stop playing around and finish the kid with her Venasaur, thank them for the battle, and rush home to spend the last few hours of the day with him.

Yeah, that's what she was doing. Leaf would be home soon.

:::

Although Leaf had technically lived in Viridian for two years now, she hadn't explored the city since her early years as a trainer. And boy had Viridian changed.

Leaf supposed it had a lot to do with the fact that Giovanni was no longer around. The city just seemed… so much _brighter_ without the presence of Team Rocket.

Leaf shook her head a little, enjoying the light breeze in her hair. She had left the apartment early that morning, and forgot her hat on the coffee table. It took her two hours to realize that she wasn't wearing it, and by that time she was too busy with a group of trainers to go back for it. Besides she didn't even need her hat today, the weather was beautiful.

A glinting to her right caught her eye. Leaf smiled, instantly thinking of Green when she spotted a bargain store boasting high-quality Great Balls for half the original price. Green would have sneered, questioning how good Great Balls from a bargain store could even be, and still drag her in to buy the store's entire stock. He never, ever passed up a good deal.

Leaf considered going into the store, seeing as she needed to stock up on Poké Balls anyways, when she suddenly noticed the smell of baked goods coming from the store next door. Forgetting the bargains, Leaf wandered into the bakery. She hadn't noticed it before, but she was absolutely _starving_.

Everywhere Leaf looked she saw cakes shaped like Pokémon, donuts colored to look like Poké Balls, cookies made with various berries… her stomach growled when she paused by the brownies frosted to look like PokéBlock. Leaf blushed and glanced around to see if anyone heard. Aside from herself and the giggling cashier, the bakery was empty.

Sighing in relief, Leaf continued to look around the store. Everything looked so good; she couldn't decide what she wanted. She found herself circling the store over and over again, leaning towards one item when another one caught her attention.

"Excuse me, miss?"

The voice drew Leaf's attention from the Lunatone-shaped cake she was inspecting. The cashier was smiling, beckoning her over.

"I noticed you were having trouble deciding on what to buy. Would you like a suggestion?" The girl said when Leaf got to the register.

Leaf nodded, feeling a little relieved. She had never been good at choosing when she had such a big selection in front of her.

"Personally, I like our house specialty: The Viridian Cupcake." The girl said as she placed said cupcake on the counter.

It was simple, but just as cute as everything else in the store. The cupcake itself was dyed green, with sprinkles were shaped like little earth badges all over.

"This one's a free sample, but I guarantee that you'll end up buying some for when you get home." The girl said and handed it over. "Everybody does."

Leaf raised an eyebrow, but took the cupcake. Was this little cupcake really that good? She peeled back the wrapper and took a bite.

Oh… _oh_, it was better than the girl had made it sound. Leaf took another bite, not bothering to hide the smile that was forming on her lips. Already she was fishing around her bag, pulling out her wallet and talking out her money.

"How much for a dozen?" Leaf said, refraining from taking another bite.

"9800 PokéDollars. A baker's dozen is 10,000 PokéDollars."

Leaf's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. Geez, that was steep. How many of those half-priced Great Balls could she buy with that money instead? Green would probably chastise her for spending so much.

But if she wasn't spending all that money on just herself…

"I'll take a baker's dozen."

:::

It was about half an hour later when Green heard her key scrape the doorknob.

He didn't move from his spot on the couch as he heard her kicking off her sneakers, though Eevee immediately hopped off to greet her. A clink resonated as she tossed her keys into the bowl.

"Green, are you home? Sorry I'm late."

Green stayed silent, listening to her shuffle around from the door to the kitchen. Green wanted to make her wait, like he did. She'd see him when she walked into the living room.

"Vee!"

"Well hello, Eevee! Where's Green?" Leaf asked. Green could hear the smile in her voice.

"Vee!" He heard the soft clicking of Eevee's nails on the floor and Leaf's footsteps right behind it. Green kept his face neutral as he turned to see them enter.

It's amazing how just seeing her makes his mouth curve up.

Leaf smiled brightly at him. "Look what I got for you, Green!"

He sees that she's balancing two cupcakes in one hand and holding out another one for him. He takes the one offered, curving his lips down a bit. "Is this the reason you were late?"

Leaf bit her lip, looking a little sheepish, before grinning wickedly. "Oh, so you're upset because I was late?"

"N-no!" Green exclaimed, turning away from her knowing smile. "You should just… call if you're going not going to race, okay?"

"I thought you didn't like to play that game?" Leaf asked, placing one of her cupcakes in front of Eevee.

"I just don't like to be kept waiting, okay?" Green said, peeling back the wrapper from his own cupcake.

"Okay, Grumpy-Golduck. From now on I'll call if I'll be out late getting us cupcakes." Leaf said, crossing her heart. "I promise."

Green nodded, a smile already back on his face, and bit into his cupcake.

"_Oh_."

"_Vee~_"

Leaf didn't bother to hide her smile as she bit into her own cupcake.

Sitting there, enjoying the best cupcake he'd ever had next to the most amazing girl he'd ever known, Green realized that it was the little moments they spent together, like these, that made him happiest.


End file.
